“Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon [with lyrics]” on YouTube

31May

The Rolling Stone Album Guide [7]Fleetwood Mac is the tenth album by the British-American band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1975. It was the band’s second eponymous album; the first was their 1968 album. Among Fleetwood Mac fans, the album is often referred to as the White Album.[8] This is the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist, after Bob Welch departed the band in late 1974. The album was also the group’s last to be released on the Reprise label until 1997’s The Dance (the group’s subsequent albums until then were released through Warner Bros. Records, Reprise’s parent company).

The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 over a year after entering the chart, spent 37 weeks within the top 10, and more than fifteen months within the top 40. It launched three top twenty singles: “Over My Head”, “Rhiannon” and “Say You Love Me”, the last two falling just short of the top ten, both at No. 11. In 1986, it was certified 5x platinum by the RIAA representing shipments of five million units in the United States.[9]

“Warm Ways” was the first single lifted from the album in 1975 in the UK.[10] It was not released as a single in the United States, where Over My Head was released instead. Initially, the album generated limited interest in the UK, as the first three singles released by the new lineup failed to chart. “Say You Love Me” charted on the UK Singles Chart and it reached No. 40[11] Following the massive success of Rumours two years later, interest in the band re-ignited and Fleetwood Mac was re-released in 1978, along with the single “Rhiannon” which peaked just outside the Top 40 at No. 46.[10] The album eventually peaked at No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart[11] but was a prelude to a run of hugely successful albums for the band in Britain, including four multi-platinum number ones: Rumours, Tusk, Tango in the Night and Behind the Mask.[10]